The Eagles Owe the Bears for Winning Super Bowl LII

OK, I know. Clearly I’m being a homer here, since I’m a huge Chicago Bears fan.

The Eagles may not completely owe the Bears for their first ever Super Bowl championship, but they do owe at least a hearty hand shake and perhaps and short “thank you”. Here’s why:

1) The Bears Gave Alshon Jeffery Away

Alshon Jeffery was the future for the Bears receiving corps, but somehow got away at the height of his career. Sure, he was injury laden and wasn’t playing at his best in 2016, but he was certainly worth building around. Besides, no one is going to argue that the ghost-of-Kendall Wright and Josh Bellamy were better options.

The Bears could have franchised Jeffery if they didn’t want to sign him long term for the measly price of $17.5 million. I say “measly” because instead of doing that, the Bears opted to give away a gag-inducing $18.5 million in guaranteed money to Mike Glennon, who had essentially thrown 4 NFL passes in the previous 2 years, just to trade the farm away for Mitchell Turbisky and bench Glennon for Trubisky after 4 games. Nothing like paying a backup QB to lose 4 games for at a price of $4.6 million per game.

And thus how the Eagles managed to get Jeffery on their squad for a $14 million one year deal (later with a four-year extension worth $27 million guaranteed), who went on to get them their first TD of Super Bowl LII in the same fashion he always did in Chicago.

So, you’re welcome, Philly. Glad you’re enjoying our 2012 2nd round draft pick while we wallow at the bottom of the NFL. I just hope the rest of our good players don’t make the same guarantee, because you might just be looking at another Super Bowl with even more Bears players.

And what did they call that play? Well, in the post game interview, Pederson called it the “Philly Special.” But hold on a sec? Haven’t I seen that play before?

You guessed it. The Bears ran the exact sameplay two years ago, in the exact samestadium into the exact sameendzone. Sure, it actually was called the “Clemson Special” at that time, because Clemson had used it a few years before that, but it’s first NFL use was by the Bears.

And guess who was on the Bears staff with OC Dowell Loggains during that time? Yup, current Eagles receivers coach Mike Groh. And if that number 17 looks a little familiar, that’s because it should. It’s our good friend Alshon Jeffery, who was actually on the field both times the play was executed.

So, again, you’re welcome, Philly. But come on, give credit where credit is due. At least call it the “Clemson Special” to give credit to where it came from. I can understand why you don’t want to call it the “Chicago Special”, though. It sounds a little too much like what Al Capone would have called some sort of crazy violent mob hit.

And besides, the “Philly Special” sounds like you’re just placing an order for a cheesesteak a bottle of Yuengling.

At any rate, now that you Philly fans know the debt of gratitude you owe us Chicago fans, next time you see some guy or gal overdressed in Bears orange and blue, please stop to say “thank you.” I’m sure he or she will just look at you strangely and say something like “I’m not interested”, but you’ll know that he or she really meant “You’re welcome.”